Burst water main on 30 November 2006 and aftermath

Thames Ditton floods30 November - 1 December 2006

There was major flooding in the village on the morning of 30 November after a 48" main burst behind 44 Basingfield Road. Water broke through a wall into Station Road and, the problem exacerbated by notoriously bad surface water drainage along Station and Speer Roads, poured along Speer Road to flood the Infants' School Grounds and along Station Road to the High Street (photo by Martin Quinn - click it for larger version). Several premises in the roads affected, particularly those lower than street level on the High Street, suffered severe flooding. The burst is thought to have occurred around 4 a.m. and the alert was telephoned to Thames Water by Tanya of the Village Bakery who guessed a burst main might be responsible.

Police and Thames Water were on the scene in numbers, and promptly, to close off roads and shut down the water main. Residents' Association Councillors David Lowe and Ruth Lyon were immediately on the scene ascertaining what could be done to help. Other residents such as Marcus who lives over Lodge Brothers have been cited for selfless help given to badly-affected neighbours.

Read more detailed reporting and see further photos of the events. Several residents emailed us with illustrative photographs, used for a gallery where residents are free to download photos if they would help to support insurance claims.

Details of Thames Water's Loss Adjuster for claims:

Tim Colston (the person dealing with the claims re TD burst main)

Douglas Jackson & Co Ltd.,
Swan Court
Tanner Street
Southwark
London SE1 3XE

tel: 020 7407 5599
Email: email@douglasjackson.co.uk

Update 1 December: Danny Leamon, Network Operations Manager for Thames Water, told us that TW managed to get their heavy machinery behind No.44 to tackle the crater, thanks to a neighbour who allowed his back shed to be removed for access. The main, which runs along Thames Water's land leased to the back gardens of that side of Basingfield Road, was laid in about 1920. However, it looked to be in reasonably good condition and had always passed the random checks that Thames Water carry out on their mains as a matter of routine. Replacement of the main would take an estimated 24 hours, although restititution of gardens and damage would take longer.

Villagers were counting the cost to homes and trade. Several shops, such as the bridal shop and Stitchery, lost a good deal of stock that will be hard to replace, especially for the Christmas trade. The Bakery was badly hit. Several householders were forced to find meduim-term temporary accommodation, and many more lost furnishings including some valuable rugs. Two houses at the foot of Boyle Farm Road, on the flood's downwards rush to the Thames, were reportedly also badly hit. Outside another, firemen were seen trying to net large koi carp that escaped from local pisciculturist Derek Paul's garden pond.

Ashley Road car park remained flooded over 35 hours after the event and had to be pumped out by Thames Water - there are six hefty drains there but they were, like so many other drains around these villages, badly blocked.

Thames Ditton flood - aftermath 2 - 4 December 2006

Thames Water sent a huge mobile crane (photo) on 2 December to haul out the burst pipe (photo) and lower the new pipe (photo) into the crater for replacement (photo).

Our Residents' Association Councillors pressed Elmbridge to arrange street cleaning to cleanse the High Street and other affected roads of mud and detritus, well before the upcoming Christmas Fayre.

EBC responded on 4 December by committing street sweeper crews to clear the car park and streets as required, coordinating resources with Thames Water. However, these machine cleans were insufficient and after further pressing by our RA Councillors, Elmbridge eventually sent a sim-man team with supervisors to perform a manual clean - the village has never been cleaner...

Some good might have come of the episode. Thames Water would argue that failure by Surrey CC to ensure decent surface water drainage along Station Road contributed to the damage (and hence the liability) around the High Street. Certainly both Surrey CC and Elmbridge BC officials now appeared to be focusing a little more on these and related issues such as the failed drains in the car park at Ashley Road. The broken kerbs in Basingfield Road may finally be repaired. Our Elmbridge Councillors and our representative on Surrey CC, Peter Hickman - much in evidence on the streets during the three days following the burst main - maintained pressure to get priority action at last on such issues.

We have to say that whatever justifiable complaints we may have about officials' failure to get a grip on these things in normal times, the response of Thames Water and other authorities to the emergency on 30 November was very quick and very good.

Floods, drains ....7 December 2006

Political parties were not in evidence during our flood, in contrast to the Residents' Association with their wellies on. Belated and misdirected message from Ian Taylor MP but we called on him for support in getting Conservative Surrey CC to fix properly our Third-World drains, especially along Station Road. C'mon Ian.... Read (and see) more....

12 December 2006

We learned that the day immediately following our piece on 7 December our MP Ian Taylor finally visited the village. This direct interest is welcome, as would be his support on drains with Surrey CC (see C'mon Ian).

We understood from villagers affected that Thames Water continued, in the main, to process things efficiently in the aftermath of the floods. But the point had come where their promptness and effectiveness in settling fair claims was to be tested. Please keep us informed.

Meanwhile, responding to pressure on bad drainage from RA Councillor Peter Hickman, Surrey's contractors scheduled a visit on Monday 18 December by a big 'combo' drain-buster. Alas, yet again, Surrey deferred that visit until some time in the New Year ...

14 December 2006

Contractors for Thames Water continued to work on Station Road by the ramp to Thames Ditton station. They tapped into the trunk main to send a probe up it looking for leaks. They established during the afternoon that there appeared to be a further leak between the place the main ruptured and a point about 80 yards up Basingfield Road from Station Rd. The main is still carrying water pressured at 5 bar - enough to send it well over a hundred feet in the air!.

A few more facts: 24 January 2007

◊ More than 50 people were forced to evacuate their homes.

◊ 13 families are still in temporary accommodation (January 2007). Thames Water expected them to be there another 3 - 6 months.

◊ More than 10.5 million litres of water were lost in the burst.

◊ Water to 17,000 properties was cut off.

◊ The main carries approximately 85 million litres each day to customers between Walton and Brixton.